The party wasn't until the weekend, but Elise had insisted on celebrating Lily's birthday day-of, so she came over with a bottle of wine and the two made pasta and laughed and watched an episode of bad reality TV.
There was a kind of pleasant buzz in Lily's head. Somehow the brunette had ended up on the floor, resting with her head on the arm she had stretched over the cushions. Elise was still on the opposite side of the couch, her feet tucked up underneath her as she sipped from her glass and brushed a lock of auburn hair behind her ear.
Bottle empty, drinking their last glass each, their conversation lapsed into silence and they found themselves simply staring at each other from their positions in the room. As soon as Lily became aware they were holding eye contact, she felt a simultaneous urge to pull away and a kind of bubbling breathlessness rising up through her legs and torso. She gulped as the kind of pins and needles excitement spread through her chest, finally breaking the stare so she could run a finger around the rim of her glass.
When Lily's gaze raised again the other woman was still contemplating her. Elise's eyes were curious, attentive, and just the start of a half-smile played on her lips. Lily was trying to figure out how to break the silence and the tension when her friend finally spoke again.
"Do you want to play truth or dare?"
The fizzing, bubbling feeling in Lily's body was moving down into her lower stomach, touching at the beginnings of an aching knot. "I didn't know adults played that game," she said. She'd meant it to diffuse tension, but toward the end of the sentence her voice broke in a little high-pitched hiccup that made the feeling inside her twist sharply.
"We don't have to," Elise's voice was soft in contrast to her focused gaze. As if to illustrate her laissez-faire attitude, Elise moved her legs from under herself and sat with them long over the cushions of the couch, leaning back and draping her arm over the back while she cocked her head at the birthday girl. One foot flexed, moved through a point, and then relaxed again. Now facing each other -- Lily on the floor, Elise up on the couch -- Elise's half-smile bloomed over her face into a tiny, teasing smirk.
Lily took a breath and downed the rest of her wine. "Truth or dare?"
"Truth," Elise said. Lily felt her mind go blank -- this was why she never played this game, she thought. What was she supposed to ask?
"Um. Okay. What's the worst thing you've ever done?"
"Wow, really just diving in there." Elise said after a throaty laugh, pressing her hand to the exposed skin of her freckled chest. She was wearing a tank top over her jeans, and Lily could see the skin just below her collarbone turn a slight shade of pink. "I cheated on a test in college once."
"That's not so bad."
"Hey, you didn't specify what kind of worst thing it had to be," Elise said with a grin. "I got testing accommodations for my ADHD. I had this one engineering class that just...didn't make sense to me, but I needed it for my major. I studied and studied and it just wasn't coming, and so I took some notes on my graphing calculator and used them during the test. No one knew because I just got a room by myself. I still feel bad about it." She paused, looking off into a corner of the room, the fingers on her chest drumming against her skin. "Truth or dare?"
"Truth," Lily said.
"When's the last time you had sex?"
Heat rose to the woman's face. "It's been a while," she started quietly. "A couple of months, I think. Before Sarah and I broke up. Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Same question."
Elise smiled. "Last week. Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"When's the last time you got off?"
Lily's blush deepened. The warmth in her low belly that had been ebbing reignited. Breaking her gaze from the other woman she looked down at the floor as she muttered, "Two days ago."
"What?" Elise said, and when Lily looked up she saw her friend's smile had grown again. Elise was leaning toward her, hand cupped around her ear in a mocking gesture. "I couldn't hear you."
Lily gave her friend a stare that she hoped would kill, even as she felt her nipples press against the fabric of her shirt. "You heard me just fine."
"Yeah," Elise said. "But I want you to tell me again, and to look at me when you do."
Lily shifted from side to side, trying to quiet the restlessness in her body. Their interaction was taking a sharp turn, quickly solidifying playful flirting into something more. Raising her gaze again, Lily wished her body wouldn't give away Elise's impact on it. "Two days ago."
Elise was clearly enjoying the other woman's struggle. "In a full sentence, please."
Part of Lily didn't know why she was going along with this. The other, growing part, was very much hoping for more. The words weren't easy to get out -- especially without breaking eye contact. Feeling the heat in her cheeks as she played into Elise's hand, she hoped the woman couldn't see the fluttering of her racing pulse against her neck. "The last time I came was two days ago."
"There you go," Elise said, the tone of her voice taking on a tiny hint of mocking condescension mixed in with the praise. "That wasn't so bad, was it? Truth or dare?"
Lily made a sound of protest. "You just went!"
"I know," Elise said. "And now I'm going again. Truth or dare?"
"But it's my turn to ask."
Elise moved again, sliding off the couch so she was sitting on the floor next to Lily. She made a show of slowly scooting over until they were sitting a foot or so apart, both leaning against the cushions of the couch. Elise reached forward and put the pads of her index and middle fingers under Lily's chin, tilting it up just slightly and running her thumb over the woman's jaw. "That's not the game we're playing, birthday girl. I'll ask again: truth or dare?"
Lily tried -- really tried -- to keep her reactions in check: she tried not to flush, tried to quiet the growing ache between her legs, wished she could get her nipples to stop straining against her cotton-covered chest. Elise gently ran her thumb over Lily's lips, eliciting a sharp intake of breath. They both knew whose rules they'd be playing by.
"Dare."
"Do you want to get a little more intense?" Elise asked. Her voice was low, and the warmth in Lily's stomach was beginning to spread to the rest of her body. Lily's mouth had gone dry - she gulped, nodding as her friend continued to slowly touch her face -- thumb dragging over the skin of her lips, over the ridge of her jaw, up to the sensitive skin just in front of her ear, tracing an invisible track that kept Lily's nerves on alert for the next touch.
"Don't just nod, tell me." Elise's voice was casual -- the redhead seemed at ease where she was sitting, like this was something she did every day with friends. Her repose made Lily feel all the more restless.
"Yes," Lily managed to get out.
"I dare you to take your shirt off."
Lily shivered. Mind racing, Lily put her hands at the bottom of her shirt, slowly bringing the fabric up over her head. She sat for a moment, topless with the shirt in her hands, unsure of what to do with it before she dropped it on the floor next to them. She wasn't wearing a bra, and her nipples stood firm and hard against her small breasts.
Elise took her time looking Lily up and down. They lapsed into a silence again, Lily sometimes shifting or squirming where she sat, wanting to break the silence but not quite able to get the courage up.
"You're beautiful, Lily," Elise said finally. She still had that air of ease, a quiet kind of intention as their eyes met again. "I'd like to touch you; do you want that?"
Head swimming, Lily nodded. After a moment and another sharp stare, she stammered, "Yes."
Elise stood up, holding out her hands to take Lily's and pull her up. She moved gently, taking her time at positioning Lily so she was sitting on the couch. Lily was still in her jeans, and felt them pressing into the skin of her waist as she sat back. Elise took one of Lily's wrists and gently guided the woman's arm behind her back, then the other, before lightly scratching her nails against the skin of Lily's upper arm and up over her shoulder. She tapped on the woman's collarbone, tracing it with her fingers and dipping into the space between them, holding her fingers at the hollow of Lily's throat for just a moment before tracing up and down in languid arcs.
Lily felt like she was aware of every nerve in her body. Holding each of her arms in the opposite hand behind her back, she pressed her nails into her skin in time with the sweeping motions of Elise's hands on her chest and sides. The warm ache between her legs was undeniable, and she let out a small, soft moan as Elise's nails slowly ran up over her ribs, making goosebumps blossom over her skin.
"Truth or dare," Elise asked. Lily struggled with the decision. Her mind had started its own journey, thinking out specific truths or dares Elise could make her face. "T-truth."
"Do you usually play with your nipples when you get yourself off?" Elise tented her hand over Lily's right breast so that it hovered above her puckered nipple. She swept her fingers in and out, closing and opening her palm, her fingers a tide that came close to touching Lily's areola before ebbing out again. Lily silently willed the woman to just touch her where she wanted to be touched, but it seemed Elise was in no rush.
"Barely ever," Lily's voice was breathy. When she was alone she usually went straight for the prize between her legs, spending no more than a few minutes rubbing or using a toy before her thighs would clench and her toes would curl. She waited for Elise to start the next round of the game, arching her back to try and push her breast into the redhead's palm.
Elise took the hint at last and slowly drew her fingers together until they brushed over the puckered skin of her areola. Deftly she played her fingers over Lily's hard nipple, causing the girl to gasp and shift on the couch, her legs spreading slightly, hips pushing back to try and push her chest further still into the fingertips. She enjoyed nipple play with partners, but it had rarely ever done something like this for her. This time it seemed like each light brush of Elise's fingers made something contract in Lily's stomach and made the ache between her legs bloom even more. She was absolutely sure that she was wet. "Truth or dare?" asked Elise. Lily picked truth.
"Do you want me to pinch your nipple?" Elise asked. Lily felt her thoughts growing cloudy. She was mentally pleading for Elise to just do these things, to just grab her and tear the rest of her clothes off and stop this game. But the other woman had continued to gently play with Lily's breast, her other hand still exploring the sensitivity of Lily's torso. When that hand dipped down to Lily's jeans and drew a line over where her hip met the denim, Lily dug her fingernails hard into her arms, still holding them behind her back as she wished for more.
"Yes," she got out. "Yes. More please."
"In time," Elise said. She closed her fingers around Lily's nipple -- quick, hard -- and the woman gasped, her legs spreading further apart as her hips pressed back and then forward. The suddenness of it spread through her like lightning. Elise didn't stop, pinching and twisting, pulling until a sound escaped from Lily's throat and then releasing, going back to the soft and gentle touches, back and forth between the two sensations.
When her hand came to Lily's other breast, the woman thought she might scream. Elise repeated the pattern there - soft and teasing, refusing to touch Lily's nipple, then using featherlight strokes until Lily felt her entire body screaming for more, before moving into roughness. It was only when Elise began to switch at random between twisting her nipple hard, smacking her breast, and gently rolling the flesh between her fingers until Lily squirmed that the woman realized being able to anticipate the pattern had been a kind of kindness.
She lost track of time. At some point, her skin so electrified that every touch and stroke and pinch made her gasp, Elise started the next round of the game. It took Lily a full ten seconds to remember they were playing.
"Dare."
"I dare you to take me into your bedroom."
Dazed, stood up from the couch and realized where her body ached: her hips from the way she'd spread her legs on the couch; between her shoulder blades from trying to push her breasts into Elise's hands; her shoulders from holding her arms the way she had been; and of course, the place between her legs throbbed, refusing to let her ignore it.
"Truth or dare."
"Dare," Lily said.
